What is State Issue 1 on the Ohio ballot this fall?

Columbus — Ohio voters this fall will decide State Issue 1, a proposed constitutional amendment that is being bankrolled by billionaires including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, Nicholas and Susan Pritzker of San Francisco and George Soros’ Open Society Policy Center.

Ohio politicos are lining up for and against State Issue 1: Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine opposes it while Democratic nominee Rich Cordray supports it.

“Eight years of Mike DeWine’s failure have given us a tripling of opioid-related deaths and rising drug crime. The time for him to step up and solve this problem has long passed. Now, he wants to play politics with the opioid epidemic as it is destroying families and communities across Ohio,” Cordray said in a written statement. “As governor, I will work with law enforcement to make sure drug dealers are convicted and serve long prison sentences while people who need substance abuse treatment can get it in our communities.”

At a press conference Monday, DeWine said “Richard Cordray could not be more wrong about anything.”

A controversial plan to reduce the penalties for people doing time for some drug offenses. Our I-Team is taking a closer look at this proposal that could be put into the state constitution. News Center 7’s Jim Otte show us who’s behind the plan and what it means for taxpayers.

DeWine sounded the alarm against Issue 1, saying it would undermine drug courts, give Mexican cartels a “road map straight into our neighborhoods,” and allow early release of up to 10,000 felons now in prison. “It would gut the progress we have made and destroy lives, destroy families.”

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican who favors some criminal justice reforms, wrote in a recent opinion piece that Issue 1 is unconscionable and catastrophic and would hamper drug courts in Ohio.

“If Issue 1 passes, Ohio might have some of the most lenient drug crime laws in the nation,” she warned.

Issue 1 would dictate than any drug possession conviction that is now a felony 4 or felony 5 would be knocked down to a misdemeanor. It would make possession of less than 20 grams of powdered fentanyl or a range of other illegal drugs a misdemeanor with no jail time.

“Issue 1 may be well-intentioned in design, but its passage would gravely endanger Ohioans. It would be devastating in effect,” O’Connor wrote.

Ohio Gubernatorial Candidate Mike DeWine held a press conference on Monday to talk about his position with State Issue 1.